For the Love of the Game?

By Phil Ferguson

I’ve always watched interviews with the big stars of the day, those who are constantly in the limelight, whose professional contracts are absurd, making sometimes 5 to 10 million dollars per year. I am astounded at how often I hear that they ask for more, and they protest that their contract does not measure up to their talent and current performance. There are foreign players that are now flocking to the NBA in droves, perhaps because of their need for competitive play in the country that is the powerhouse of basketball in the world. This is true, I am sure, for a certain percentage of players who truly play for the love of the game. However, there is nearly always a driving force behind dramatic, intercontinental moves.And its color is almost certainly green.There was a time when kids would play in gyms around the country with the goal of having fun or passing the time, where kids would slip and slide in old sneakers on dusty courts. Now always is the standing message that if you’re good enough to go to the NBA you’ve got it made, no more financial worries. Imagine, for one second, AAU leagues in which kids didn’t always run around newly waxed hardwood floors in the brand new Nike or Reebok shoe. Imagine that you could turn on ESPN and watch an entire hour without a single notion of players who are complaining because their 2 million a year just doesn’t cut it, that owners need to up the ante or watch their stars become fresh meat on the trade markets in the middle of the season.Idealistic, eh?Perhaps, but were ever the barriers of the social norm broken with limited thinking? If David Stern took to the podium with media’s cameras flashing and announced that the NBA would continue without offering their players or coaches a salary, immediately the league would crumble because of the flight of both crucial parties. Profits would plummet, jobs would vanish, and whole stadiums would close. But what if some stayed? What if there were players, not necessarily stars, but players nonetheless, who remained in the weight room, on the track, working out to play the game they love. And what if some coaches kept the dry-erase boards in hand and the play books fresh? These would be perhaps a handful, but each of them would share the idea that The Game is still just a game, and meant to be played that way. And maybe, just maybe, the courts would fill again, and the empty benches replaced with occupied seats. Sure they’d play in community gyms, and yeah maybe they’d all have to work day jobs. But really, is there an alternative to a money-oriented league with greedy players and cheating referees? Perhaps what I suggest is impossible, but so was flight and men walking on the moon. If there’s one thing I have learned from watching professional sports today, it is that the really sincere men and women don’t need to hold numerous press conferences to profess their financial woes, or their lack of concern about their pay. Funny thing about the latter too. The final lesson here I think, is that to remember one commonly perpetuated lie. Whenever someone says it is not about the money, it is only too painfully obvious that it is all about the money.